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One Year Program in Comedy Performing & Writing
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THE ONE YEAR PROGRAM
IN COMEDY PERFORMING AND WRITING
PREPARES STUDENTS FOR CAREERS IN COMEDY
This unique, comprehensive program is a fast track to the world of comedy clubs, film, TV, acting and writing. It is a comedy workshop like no other.
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 Learn Stand-Up Comedy, Sketch Comedy, On Camera TV and Film Audition Technique, Acting, Improv and Comedy Writing for Television
• Develop your writing and performing skills
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 Study with pros in the comedy field
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 Showcase your talent for casting directors, agents and managers at Gotham Comedy Club
•
 Receive individual attention in each of the program’s comedy workshops

Its faculty has taught students who have appeared in movies, network and premium cable television series, commercials, and Broadway and off-Broadway productions. Our students have made development deals with CBS, ABC, FOX, HBO, Paramount, the Henson Co. and Tribune Entertainment. They have made appearances on Letterman, Leno, Conan O’Brien, The Daily Show, SNL, Last Comic Standing, and Comedy Central shows including Comedy Central Presents, one hour specials, and Comedy Central’s Premium Blend. They have appeared in the Montreal, Boston, Las Vegas and Aspen Comedy Festivals. They have appeared in the Edinburgh and New York International Fringe Festivals, and in every comedy club in N.Y. and L.A., and in clubs throughout the U.S. and around the world.

They have written and starred in their own one-person shows, off-Broadway, at Caroline’s on Broadway, the Gotham Comedy Club and the New York International Fringe Festival.
OUR PHILOSOPHY

Our philosophy at the American Comedy Institute is that the best comedy training does three things. One, it helps you find your own comic voice – what is original and different and wonderful about your sense of humor. Two, it teaches you how to communicate your unique comedy skillfully, fearlessly and entertainingly to the largest possible audience. And three, it instills love and respect for comedy and its capacity to help us survive by showing us that we can face the truth – and laugh!

It is our belief that by offering our students training, performing opportunities, and information, and by introducing their work to the entertainment industry, we are significantly enhancing their capability to pursue comedy as a career.

COURSE OFFERINGS
Stand-Up Comedy
With intense training from award-winning comedy director Stephen Rosenfield, you learn how to write and perform stand-up comedy. As part of your training you perform at Gotham Comedy Club, Broadway Comedy Club and other major New York clubs.
Comedy Writing
This course covers the fundamentals of comedy writing with special reference to the techniques of writing television sitcoms, talk shows, sketch shows, webisodes, podcasts and monologues. The course examines the language, structures, and process of developing comedy material from concept to final draft. It focuses on how to pitch story ideas, how to write and rewrite a script, how to use an audience’s response to edit and punch up material, how to write as part of a team, how to get an agent, and land a comedy writing job.
Improvisation
Train as a theater improv group and learn to create comedy without a script. Through structured exercises you develop your spontaneity, free up your creativity, and sharpen your wit. As part of the course work you perform improv shows that consist of improv games, comedy scenes, and songs.
Sketch Comedy
Learn how to write and perform Saturday Night Live-style sketch comedy. You become part of a writing and performing ensemble producing sketch shows throughout the year.
On Camera TV and Film Audition Technique
In this on-camera course you work with the actual scripts used for film and TV auditions. You learn how to analyze these scripts in ways that lead to strong, memorable acting choices. You learn on-camera techniques that insure that your audition has impact when viewed on tape. Further, you learn how to respond to direction, so that you give casting directors the performance they are looking for.
Acting
This course provides students with a solid foundation in acting technique. Students learn how to create believable and exciting emotion, behavior, and characters for television, movies, and the stage.
Commercial Audition Technique
This on-camera course teaches students how to use their sense of humor to book commercials. It is taught by the head of the commercial department of a major bi-coastal talent agency (The Screen Actors Guild prohibits printing his name).
Late Night Talk Show Writing and Performing
Co-taught by Emmy Award winning former writer for the Late Show with David Letterman, Ted Greenberg. This course deconstructs the late night talk show into its constituent writing parts. The class becomes a writers room creating a late night talk show which is produced and performed and taped by the class in front of a live audience.
Industry Presentation
The One Year Program culminates in an Industry Showcases at Gotham Comedy Club, where students perform both their stand-up and sketch comedy. Casting directors from CBS, ABC, NBC, HBO, MTV, Paramount, and Nickelodeon, along with leading agents, managers, and bookers have seen the work of The One Year Program's graduating students.
FACULTY AND APPLICATION

See the Faculty for the One Year Program

Print the Application for the One Year Program

View the Catalogue for the One Year Program
"As a direct result of the One Year Program and the American Comedy Institute Industry Showcase, here's what's happened for me all within a month after our graduation show:

An NBC casting director attended the show and set up a meeting for me in Burbank, CA with the NBC casting department. I am now under consideration for roles on Law and Order and three other NBC series filming in New York.

I've become a writer for a sketch comedy show on Ion TV. I am freelancing with 4 agencies- Innovative Artists, Abrams, Ingber & Associates and Paradigm and being sent on auditions weekly.

I have a stand up set that is killing in the A clubs in NYC, at the Comedy Store and Laugh Factory in L.A., and Cobbs in San Francisco.

If you want a fast and direct ride from where you are to where you want to be – take the One Year Program."

"Steve Rosenfield's One Year Program allowed me to develop as a comic and writer years faster then I would have on my own. I graduated with a foundation in acting, writing, and stand-up - and that foundation enabled me to launch a career. From my first show at Stand-Up New York to my first TV credit on Starz, Steve has helped me with it all."

– Katy Olsen

"The American Comedy Institute's One Year Program launched me as comedian and an actor. The program covers all facets of comedy, and equally important, provides you with a clear idea of how to approach and navigate the entertainment industry.

That's why so many people who study at the American Comedy Institute are working, I played "Officer Bernstein" on All My Children, appeared in episodes of The Sopranos, and continue to make apprearances on Saturday Night Live.

I filmed my first principal role in the movie The Tourist with Hugh Jackman and Ewen McGregor. I signed a two-year deal with a major talent agency.

I perform stand-up in clubs and colleges across the country, including Carolines, Gotham Comedy Club, and The Comedy Cellar.

If you want a career in comedy and want a head start, take the American Comedy Institute's One Year Program."

– Andrew Ginsburg

"As a comedian you never live a normal life. At the American Comedy Institute you learn how not to be normal - in a professional way.

Stephen Rosenfield and his team at ACI give you the feedback you need to develop your own unique comedy and grow as an independent artist. Stephen Rosenfield is not only a great comedy teacher and coach, he also manages to perfectly catch every comedian's unique personality and the way they can grow and develop it.

The teaching is actually a training to produce new material constantly, and become more and more professional as you are performing in front of a real audience.

My one person show, For Kingdom and Fatherland that was featured at the New York International Fringe Festival, and which is now touring nationally, was first developed in American Comedy Institute's One Year Program."

– Shabana Rehman